Every year zanox (the company that I work for) organises a get-together for employees from all over the world. This year the event was held in Madrid at El Palacio del Negralejo - a large venue packed with activities, food and drinks. The company had even fixed a massagist and some flamenco dancers (both of which I missed). It is great to get a face for the people that I mail daily, and it also comes to remind us of how big the company actually is - in the Stockholm office we are 16 people, while at that event (which we call "Aspen") we were 640!
Having olives all over the place was such a great idea! First of all, I love olives, and secondly - we needed that salt!
Gunnar from the Stockholm office was the first to retire at zanox after having worked in 8 years for the company. He received a special recognition and this multifunctional walking stick! :)
The best seafood paella ever!
Team work with the desserts - everyone takes a couple and we all take a bite.
This guys was pouring in a special way a kind of white from Southern Spain that is fermented twice. No one actually liked it though, and to me it tasted just like rakia.
After a few sangrias - I am starting to feel the beat.
Party time with Anna - check out her blog here!
After the party most of us stayed the weekend which we spend chilling by the pool, eating, shopping and partying.
A visit to Palacio de Cristal (The Crystal Palace) located in the beautiful Buen Retiro Park. At the time, there was an exhibition of the artist Damién Ortega.
Of course I didn't miss the food market - Mercado de San Miguel where a tourist can try local food - for example baby eels!
In every city, I will walk until I find those little streets with cosy cafés - I know they are somewhere there!
We had good timing as there was a festival going on - Fiesta de la Paloma. I was amazed as I had never seen anything like that before - masses of people on the streets and pop-up bars all the way. We had a hard time going through the crowd but when we found a fairly spacey spot, we stayed there until the early hours of the morning sipping mojitos from huge glasses and dancing in latino rhythms. We even got free shots from the bar tender. ;) I have to say, three nights of fiesta-ing got the best out of me, as I still cannot recover - three days later.
The last day we spent equally intensively - walking all day long and doing even more shopping. I was so happy to discover those alien sunglasses at a second hand shop - they will remind me of warm days and happy times in Madrid! :)
